West Bengal Police has arrested five people in connection with the stampede at a religious event in Asansol. They are said to be supporters of a BJP leader. Three people had died due to a stampede during the distribution of blankets in the programme. 

In this case, the Mamata Banerjee government had tried to register an FIR against BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari as well, but the Calcutta High Court did not give permission. The Supreme Court also did not give any relief to the Bengal government in this matter and dismissed the petition challenging the High Court order. 

The stampede incident took place on Wednesday evening at Asansol in Paschim Barddhaman district. A senior police officer said that raids were conducted by the Asansol City Police on Thursday night in the case. During this, five people were arrested from different places. The raid is still on. He was held for allegedly being arrested in a stampede case. "We are trying to ascertain whether the stampede was the result of some conspiracy or the incident took place due to the negligence of the organizers of the religious event," he said. 

Police sources say the five arrested are close supporters of Asansol's local BJP leader Jitendra Tiwari. The stampede took place when Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Legislative Assembly, had left for the programme. A stampede broke out as the crowd began moving towards the stage to get blankets. Two women and a girl were killed in this. The officer has alleged that as soon as he left, the police personnel deployed there were withdrawn, due to which the stampede took place. 

The stampede has turned into a political dispute between the ruling TMC and the opposition BJP in Bengal. Both BJP and Trinamool Congress have blamed each other for this. On the other hand, the police claimed that no permission was given for the blanket distribution programme. The police have formed a team to investigate the accident.